Another Chance
by biyaku
Summary: Kel/Joren All Joren wanted was one more chance at life for himself, but never did he expected to return to the world at which he will be a stranger to.
1. Prologue

Another Chance

Disclaimer: I wish I did, but unfortunately I do not own Joren of Stone Mountain. All characters in Protector of the Small legally belong to Tamora Pierce.

_I'm searching for you, my dear  
In this endless maze  
Of swirling coloured patterns  
I want to get a bit closer to you_

_- Hikaru Utada, "Another Chance"_

Prologue:

The Chamber of Ordeal can reveal your future, fears and ambitions, deepest desires and demons. It can also be anything, for Joren it was a mirrored maze. Everywhere he looked, all around him, above and below all he saw was himself. There was at least several thousand Jorens glazing back at him. Some of the images were not as handsome as their object of reflection. These mirrors came in all shapes and curves; they were plane, concave, convex. _What a joke, I can't be scared by mirrors. I am going to find myself out of this maze. No wonder Trebond was made knight, this test is a circus house._ He placed his hands on one of the mirrors and began feeling around for an edge; he could no longer rely on his sight in a place like this for it only showed him illusions.

"Oww," he drew his hands away. The edge of a plane mirror was sharper than he had anticipated. The cut on his middle finger was not severe, and he once again mocked the chamber for inflicting such minute injures on him.

"Stone Mountain." Called softly by a too familiar voice. _Lord Wyldon? Why is he here?!_ He ran in the direction of his training masters voice, but no one was in sight.

"Yes sir?" It was another voice that seemed to come from one of the mirrors. As Joren looked into it, he realized it was not his reflection he is seeing. More precisely, the mirror did not reflect the man standing in front of it, but it showed Joren of Stone Mountain alright. Standing at equi-distance as he is now, in the virtual plane of the mirror was a boy. He was barely in his adolescence for his voice was still soundly soprano.

Joren remember how pink his face was his boyhood; this little boy maintained that same blush except was even redder than usual in face of embarrassment. His left eye was blacken and the lids were starting to swell; his lips were bleeding, and the rest of him was not in better condition.

"Did you fall down the stairs again, Page Joren?" Lord Wyldon asked rhetorically.

The young Joren averted his eyes to the ground, not daring to look into the face of Wyldon. "Yes, I did, sir."

"I advise you to see a palace healer tomorrow morning. Now off to your rooms, first years should not be wandering around in the castles at this hour of the night. Or they might trip and stumble down the stairs again."

"Yes, sir. Good night, sir." Joren ran pass Wyldon and turned into the page's wing. That was been the most humiliating moment of his twelves years, to stand in front of his training master guilty, weak, and a liar. When he got to his room he shut the door loudly, not caring if anyone was awaken by it. It was not fair, surely new pages were expected to run errands for the older pages it was tradition, he did not mind tradition, it taught discipline. But treatment towards him was extremely cruel, even the other pages recognized that, but they kept their knowledge silent. No one wanted to help "the girl". "The girl" was what he was known as. His rosy cheeks and fair appearance often caused people to mistake his gender. It made him look weak, even though he was not, and he was eager to prove them wrong. He remained as the top student of his year, in both academics and combating arts. Maybe that's why no one in his year would help him when he was bullied, they had always helped each other with their fights and wounds but never him. He was left to heal on his own. A sob was suppressed as he let out a heavy breath. _Boys do not cry, and that is what I am. No matter what jokes they make, I am a boy. And one day I will be a strong and respected knight. _He looked into his drawing mirror, but instead of seeing himself covered with injuries, he sees a young man, distinct with his own features staring back. But he was not a rosy blushing boy, the image in the mirror showed someone who could almost be a knight, tall and well-built figured, well defined face. _That is the man I am going to become one day_, the younger Joren said to himself as he slipped into sound sleep.

--

The Joren still in the chamber realized the mirror no longer reflect his memories, he was looking back into the plane mirror at the undistorted and accurately reflected image of himself as he is now. The memories Joren had used all mental strength to bury was just uncovered vividly and sparring no details; he was not only a spectator but a player, as he watched his younger self. He felt every emotion that had ran through the boy during the scene. The Chamber was not to be mocked, for it can resurface what is deeply embedded into one's unconscious. Joren remember how alone he was at that time, and how alone he still is now. _The only reason Vinson and Zahir hang around me was because I agreed to tutor them for the exams at the end of first year._ They were after all his friends-with-benefits, but not to be mistaken for anything lustful and vile between them.

"There you are!" Joren turned around to find his younger self standing three meters behind him. _Not another memory_, he almost said out loud. The boy began running towards. Believing this to be another optical illusion, Joren stood still and closed his eyes. He would not be deceived or forced to witness another memory if he cannot see. But the boy was no optical illusion, he began punching and kicking Joren about the waist. Joren opened his eyes to close them again wincing. Even though this Joren could be no older than thirteen, the force he exerted in his attacks matched that of a man. "You... you... you are not only a bully," the boy began yelling as he continued to aggressively hit Joren. "You are cruel, sadistic. A bigot! Strength has made you stupid."

At this point Joren began fighting back, but his defenses and attacks made no avail. This is pathetic he was loosing to a boy who barely reach puberty. He knew he could not continue to fight this... memory, after all the boy is not real, and who knew what could this doppelganger of himself do. "Let's talk this out," Joren pledge the boy. "Stop. I will change."

"No you won't," cried younger Joren as he threw a punch into Joren's eye.

"Another chance, one more chance, all I ask for."

The boy withdrew his fist, "It is in the nature of a noble knight to be forgiving. One last chance, that is all you will get." The next moment all the mirrors hand disappeared and Joren's body fell into the cold Chamber floor.

--

Author's Note: I had originally planned this to be a long KJ story, but I only got to publish two chapters of it. I decided to come back and revise and rework on this story. This prologue is newly written, the first chapter is the combination of the first two chapters in the original version.


	2. Chapter One: Line of Stars

Another Chance

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; they all belong to Tamora Pierce.

_In the ravine haunted by lynxes and panthers,  
Our heroes viciously clasping each other, rolled,  
And their skin will put blooms on the barren brambles._

_This abyss, it is hell, thronged with our friends!  
Let us roll there without remorse, cruel amazon,  
So the ardor of our hatred will be immortalized!_

_- "Duellum", Charles Baudelarie_

Chapter One: Line of Stars

The twenty year-old lady knight, Keladry of Mindlean starred at the cherry blossom petals, blown by the wind into the spring dusk sky.

"Kel." She turns to find her friend Yuki standing feet away with a small smile on her face. "It's beautiful in the spring, isn't it?" asked Yuki.

Kel nodded hesitantly. The Scandrian War was rearing towards an end, and Tortall was not on the winning side. Last month when Cortes was surrounded, Queen Tayet was found dead in her chambers. Healers declared that she had probably committed suicide. There was not much fighting anymore, how it was the time for political settlements and compromises. Yuki invited Kel to the Yamani Islands. Not wanting to leave Tortall behind, Kel reluctantly accepted her invitation. She could have done no good in Tortall anyhow, bone injures that Kel substained during the earlier battles have yet to heal. And she would have been more of a burden rather than a helper in these conditions. She envied the Lionness for her gift, she recalled that even when Alanna was seven months pregnant with her second son, she still worked as a healer in the camp sites.

"Do you miss home?" asked Yuki. Kel nodded again.

"Mindelan is under Scanran control. Is it still really home?"

"You can still win your land back. I will ask cousin to send aid to Tortall."

"No, I can't. Lady Alanna and the King are both missing, the Queen died."

For a long time there was a moment of silence, until a messenger comes.

"Sir Keladry," the messenger addresses. "A letter just arrived for you." He holds out a roll of parchment.

"Thank you," Kel takes the roll. Opening it, she discovers it's a letter from her friend Faleron.

_Kel, _

_I'm not sure how you will take this. But you will find out sooner or later, I'd rather have you hear this from me now, than finding out later and having you kill me for not telling you sooner. During last night's Scandrian attack in the southern areas at my camp, we lost Dom. We can't find him. But if we do, you'll be the first to know._

_- Fal_

"Kel are you alright?" Yuki ask. "What happened?"

"Dom. He's missing," Kel answers.

"It is getting late. Why don't you go to your rooms and rest? I will have the servants prepare a bath for you. We will talk tomorrow morning." Kel obeyed to Yuki's suggestion.

--

Keladry slowly walks across the bridge, the midnight moon reflected on the lake. She had decided to take a walk after her bath, '_Maybe Dom is still alive; Faleron said he was lost, not dead._' Kel tells herself. As her legs walked, her mind is in deep thought. Kel suddenly hears a crack looking down she sees the wood boards of the bridge fall into the lake, and before she can grab onto anything she falls too. Kel tries to swim back but somehow the water was pulling her down, and within a few minutes it pulls her down and away.

--

She awakes suspended in the sky. A line of stars was lined below her. And once again she falls, getting back up she was in between the stars and one pair is coming slowly towards her. Then everything went black.

--

Keladry opens her eyes and finds herself in a bed covered with white sheets. A scent of alcohol stung the air. An "oddly dressed" woman comes in. She is wearing light pink shirt, white skirt, and a light pink folded cap; holding a clipboard in her hands.

"So you are finally awake?" asked the strangely dressed woman.

"Uh… Where am I?" Kel asks.

"The hospital," the woman answers.

"What's a hospital?"

The woman looks at her bewildered, and checked a small box on the paper form on her clipboard, where it says "Brain Damage". "You know a place where injured or ill people go."

"But I'm not… ill. Wait, who are you?" Kel asks.

"Nurse Clara Singh," the woman answers, she continued. "There was no ID or what-so-ever on you when we found you hit by a car. So I'll need some information from you."

"Alright," Kel says calmly.

"Name, please?"

"Keladry of Mindelan."

"Okay, Birthday?"

"December 17, 443 HE."

"Hold on," and Nurse Clara Sign left the room.

--

A tall silvery blond man in his early twenties sits at the hospital waiting room. His blue eyes bullets the floor. '_It can't be, this can't be. It can't be her,' he thought. 'She's too… righteous. The Chamber won't. But then again how did the Lump get here anyway._' He recalls the events six hours ago. He was driving home from work, stuck in the usual traffic jam, he looked down to turn on the radio and he started driving slowly, when he looked up there was a women that stood right in front of his car. Before he could hit the breaks he hit her.

"Mr. Drak, sir." He looks up and sees an Indian nurse standing before him. "Are you Joren Drak?" asks the nurse. _Drak? Not Stone Mountain, Drak._ There are times when he forgets this is his name. A percuilar name it is and almost humorous in its acquisition.

Joren was in a "lawyer's firm". The registration man looked at him through the thick glasses. "Name, please."

"Joren of Stone Mountain."

"Huh?" the man looked confused.

'_People in this "future" go by commoner names_,' thought Joren. "Joren…uh…" He looked across the street. There was an auto repair shop called "Drak's Repair". "Drak, Joren Drak" he said. And from then on, he was known as Joren Drak.

"Yes," he answers.

The Indian nurse smiles. "You know the victim, right?"

"Yes," Joren answers.

"Does she know you?"

"Supposedly, yes."

"She seems to be a little out of it. I want to know does she have any case of memory lost. Would you mind making a visit to her?"

"No, sure. I will." Joren digs his hand in his leather jacket, as he walks in the room, and sees Keladry of Mindelan, sitting in the hospital bed.

Kel's eyes widen, in shock and confusion. She would recognize that face anywhere. It was Joren of Stone Mountain, she was sure of that. '_But why is he here?_' Kel thought. '_Where is this? Joren had died a few years ago. Is he a ghost? Or have I died too? Is this heaven? No, definitely not; it can't be heaven if Joren is here.'_

He takes a seat at a chair near the bed, and pulls on an awkward smile. "Hello, Keladry."

Joren sees that she had no response, "It's me, Joren. Remember?"

'_How can I ever forget_,' thought Kel rolling her eyes. She mumbled, "Where are we?"

"The future," Joren answers nonchantly.

"The future? What...how?"

"That's what I am wondering," said Joren. "How did you get here? Don't tell me the Chamber got you too."

"What?"

"Never mind," said Joren.

"I don't know. Last thing I remembered I fell into a lake. When I first woke up, I saw this line of stars in the darkness. And then I fell into those stars."

"The line of stars were probably cars," Joren guess.

"What are cars?"

"Cars are…" he stops. He didn't know now to define cars. He's been in this future world for so long, that he's become part of it. "Forget it, you will know later. Any more questions?"

"Yes. How did you get here? Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Joren looks down; '_The Chamber_,' he answers in his mind.

Kel notice his reaction, '_I shouldn't have been so direct. Maybe I should apologize. Not that he shouldn't too for all he's done._' "Joren, I'm…"

Before she got the chance to say sorry, the room's door opened to a young but balding man in a scrub. "Miss I would like to talk to you about your condition." He turned to Joren, "If you are not family..."

Joren was already out of the room.

--

The noon-time streets are busy, yet fair. It is not rush hour, the only ones in a hurry are the students who didn't have enough time for lunch, and have to rush back to their summer classes. Church camp kids sweep through the streets on the way to the park. Grandmothers would be grocery shopping in the fish scented markets. Short box boys fight their way through the streets. There was a reseller cell-phone shop every half-a-block.

Not every far from that wonderful scene, Joren walks down a bright alley, until he comes to a red back door. A pair of swollen brown eyes appear at the mail slot, which was built far above from normal height.

"Who is this," says the man with swollen eyes in a heavy accent.

"I'm here for ... documents," Joren whispers.

He man made no motion to move, still eyeing him suspiciously.

"Mr. Tam knows me."

The man withdrew from the slot minutes later he was back. "Com in," he says opening the door.

Joren enters a clouded room, filled with exhaustion smoke from cigarettes; men played pool at the two tables. "Follow me," said the man leading Joren to a wide door at the end of the large room. "Dai-gou is in here." Joren opens the door to find a grey haired Asian man sitting in a large leather office armchair.

"Mr. Tam," Joren muttered.

The grey-hair man, Mr. Tam grins and says "Welcome back. We missed you."

Joren's face was stern, his eyes fixed on Mr. Tam. "I'm here for what I first came here for."

"Where do you want to go to, dear? Canada? It's beautiful there this time of the year." Mr. Tam says as he folds his fingers, looking up at Joren brightly.

"I'm here for someone else."

"Where is he?"

"She's in the hospital right now."

"Wife? Never knew you had one." Mr. Tam asks mockingly.

"What?!" Joren barked suddenly.

"Who is she then?"

"A friend."

"A friend?! So you do have friends after all."

"Doesn't matter. Just do the job. I'd pay you back. Trust me."

"Tsk tsk. Is that how you talk to elders?" Mr. Tam says in disapproval. "But I trust you. Remember Lo?"

"The Snake?"

Mr. Tam nods, "he is now my personal lawyer. I'll send him for you. How's that?"

"But isn't he too much for such a small job?"

"You are gold, you deserve the best. Now say 'thank you.'"

"Thank you."

--

Dust and artificial lights lit up the sky from velvet navy to a violet shade of dark teal; the stars camouflaged in this blend.

Keladry is sitting upon her bead, wandering about Joren's previous encounter. 'It's not like I shouldn't expect that from him, but it was he first time he was so candid. Is this really the future? If so how far into am I?' Her thoughts drift into Dom and his disappearance that had been reported before she fell into that pond. Suddenly her questions seemed to fade, it does not matter where she is, only if Dom is safe and vivid. Sinking back into present time, she sees a shadow slide across the room. She turns, but it grabs her from behind. Muscular arms holds her neck, and strong hands covers her mouth.

Kel awakes on a cold black leather sofa, under a thin black and white checked blanket. There was a sound of lite glass to glass contact. She turns towards the source of the sound, only to find it was none other than Joren of Stone Mountain. He pulls away from the glass of water he just put down on the coffee table, and leans back into the black reading chair that he is sitting on. He is wearing a grey shirt and forest green shorts, looking very awkward with the morning sun that shined on him, making his hair look almost white.

"Stone Mountain," Kel states attempting to get up.

"Mindlean," he imitates her tone. "You probably have a lot of questions, ask way. But make it quick, I have to go to work."

"Where am I?" Kel asks timidly.

"My apartment," Joren answers promptly. She now looks confused more than scared. 'She doesn't know what an apartment is, did they had such a word back in Tortall? I don't remember.' "My rooms, they are part of this big bu... part of a very big building. Like an inn, but taller. Look out the window here."

Kel slowly walks to the window that Joren was pointing to, she looks down. The streets are wide, it is divided into three parts, two parts were parallel and thin, they sandwiched the wide section. Many people walk along the two narrow sections, and what Joren called "cars" traveled on the wide center section. Everything is so small, it must be at less 60...70 feet high. Kel let out a yell as she runs towards the appears to be the apartment's door. Joren grabs both of her wrists.

"Where do you think you are going?" He demands.

"GET ME OUT! Why did you trap me in this... this tower? What the hell do you want?!" She screams.

Joren stares at her straight in the eyes, her face was frightened and angry. He suddenly remembers, her fear of heights.

"Listen!" he overrode her screaming, Kel looked up at him. He tighten his jaw before speaking again. "In this world... things are different. Like architecture has improved, things are taller. You won't fall unless you jump out there, or the off the roof."

"This world? We are in another world? Didn't you say we are in the future? Where are we?"

"I don't really know."

"What do you mean, 'I don't know'? I want to get back! Don't you too? Don't you miss Tortall?"

Joren started at her, slowly he loosen his grip on Kel's wrist and buries his hands in the pockets of his shorts. Finally he answers, "no." His voice is weak, "I'm staying in this world."

"Well... I'm not," Kel snapped. "Just because you don't have people that loves you back in Tortall, doesn't mean I don't."

Joren takes one quick look at her then grabs a chain of keys from the coffee table. "I have to go to work. Don't leave, I'll be back in a few hours." Opening the main door he, looks back at Kel once more. "And even if you do, you'll have no where else or anyone else to go to." With that he closes the door, hurrying down the stairs.

--

Author's Note: Yes, this used to be two chapters. I really am not sure where I will be taking this story to. Or if I will update anytime soon, I have other projects I am working on. But I hope you enjoyed it.


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